Circuit breaker apparatus



: NovQf-l'7, 1931. +1. Hausa 1332x5833 CIRCUIT BREAKER APPARATUS Fil edNov. 23. 1928 s sneets-sn 1 INVENTOR I Ham/d H Ru 7 7 ATTORNEY Nov. 17;1931. H. RUGG 1,832,833

CIRCUIT BREAKER APPARATUS Filed Nov. 2:5, 192a s Sheets-Sheet 2 fig. 2.

IIIIIIIQIIII 1111 11/11 Ill/I/l/l/Ill/I/IIl/4 IIIIII/III/III 35 INVENTORHam/d H Ru ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 17, 1931 v UNITED ST -res PATENTOFFICE HAROLD H. RUGG, or wILKrNsBUnG;PENNSYLVANIA, assreNon. T0WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA CIRCUIT BREAKER APPARATUS Application filed November 23,1928. Serial No. 321,407.

-My invention relates to circuit breaker apparatus and particularly toapparatus of the truck-panel type wherein thecircuit'breaker isenclosed'within a cell structure and may be disconnected from the feedconductors and withdrawn from the cell for the purpose of inspection andrepair, or for substitution of another circuit breaker. V

An object of my invention is to provide a truck panel circuit breakerwherein the circuit breaker unit is moved into the cell in a horizontalplane and moved vertically upward into engagement with stationarycontacts within the cells thatare connected to the feed bus bars.

A further object of my invention is to provide a means for guiding themovement of thecircuit breaker within the cell struc ture and a meansfor supporting the circuit breaker in an elevated operative position insuch manner that the supporting means cannot be released until thecircuit breaker is supported upon a truckused' for supporting thecircuit breaker while it is being moved into the cell and elevated tothe operative position.

A further obiect of my invention is to provide a circuit breaker havingthe abovenoted characteristics wherein means are provided for preventingthe circuit breaker "from being moved to either the operative or theinoperative position while the circuit breaker contacts are in theclosed position, These and other ohiects. that will be made apparentthroughout the further description of mv invention, are attained bymeans of the circuit breaker apparatus hereinafter described andillustrated in the accompanyinp' drawinp's, wherein: 1

'Fi ure 1 is an elevational view ofa circuit breaker apparatus embodyingfeatures of my invention, the cell structure being shown in verticalsection;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the circuit breaker a paratus shown inFig. 1 show- 1 ing the circuit breaker in an'inouerative'lower pos tionwherein it is being withdrawn horizo ally fromthe cell, and; I

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of the circuit breaker apparatus shownin Fig. 1.

cuit breaker electrically, or causing it to be Referring to thedrawings, the apparatus comprises a sheet metal cell structure 4 havingsidewalls 5, a top wall 6 and a rear wall 7. The side walls 5 areprovided with false walls 8, the purpose of which will more fullyhereinafter appear. i

The top wall '6 supports insulator bushings'i9 which support the fixedcontacts 11 that areconne'cted to the feed 'busses 12. The contacts 11are adapted to be engaged by disconnect" contacts 13 that are carried jbyinsulatingbushings '14 mounted upon the cover 15 of a metalcircuitbreaker housing 16.

It will be understood that the circuit breaker unit may-be of anypreferred construction that includes the manual operating devices 17 andan electromagnetic clos ing'and trip device 18 for closing the cir-,

tripped to the open position in response to severe overload or short"circuit conditions.

{An elevator truck 19 is provided fo'rmoving the circuit breaker unitinto the cell and for elevating it to the operative position, in

which it issupported independently of the truck by [means that will behereinafter described. The truck comprises' 'a base frame 21 providedwith rollers 22 and a pair of vertical standardsorguide posts 23. Across head 24 'is slidabl'y mounted upon the guide postsand receives athreaded screw 25 which is supported in-a connecting bar 26 which servesto'ioin thev upper ends of the guide posts. "T he screw is provided withfixed collars 27 for preventing longitudinal movement of the screw withrespect to the cross bar 26.

It will be seen from the foregoing that'when a hand wheel28, secured tothe upper end of the screw 25. is rotated, the cross head 24:

willbe'moved upwardlv or downwardly. dc pendinmmonthe direction ofrotation of the hand wheel. 7 T

A carrier frame 29 is rigidly connected to the cross head 24andcomprises two spaced framestructures each having a recess 31 forreceiving a'supportine' pin 32 carried bv the circuit breaker unit 16.The frames 29rare alsoprovided with extensions 33,'the purpose .ofwhichwill hereinafter appear. The lower end of the circuit breaker housing 16is provided with alug 84 which supports a bar 35 that engages the lowerend of the carrier frame 29 and thus serves to maintain the circuitbreaker unit in vertical position when supported upon the carrier frame29.

The base frame 21 of the truck isso designed that portions thereofstraddle the circuit breaker housing, thereby permitting the truck to bemoved into operative position withrespect thereto, in order that thenotches 31 may be disposed beneath the pins 32 on the circuit breakerwhen it is desired to support the circuit breaker upon the truck. Whenthe cross head 24 is elevated by turning the hand wheel 28, the carrierframe 29 will cause the circuit breaker to be raised from the floor andsupported entirely upon the truck. Thecircuit breaker may then be movedinto the cell 4.

The cover of the circuit breaker is provided with a frame structure 36whichcarries a pair of rollers 3'? which move in the horizontal,IIliClQ-WHY 38 of a guide member 89 when the circuit breaker is being:moved horizontally into the cell. The guide member 39 is provided with apair of vertical guide-ways 4-1 for receiving the rollers 37 and guidingthe vertical movement of the circuit breaker after it has completed itsmovement into the cell. At thistime, the hand wheel 28 is rotated toelevate the carrier 29 and thereby move the circuit breaker unitvertically until the disconnect contacts 13 fully engage the stationarvfixed contacts 11 in the cell, as indicated in Fig. 1'.

In order to support the circuit breaker in the operative position and topermit the removal of the truck, I have provided each side wall of thecell with a pair of rotary lat hes 42 that are rotatably mounted uponthe false wall 8 and which are provided w th slots 43 that register withthe vertical guidewavs 4.1 and receive the rollers 37 on the circuitbreaker unit. The rotarv'latches 42 are provided with crank arms 44 thatare pivotally connected to one another bya connectino: rod 45 in suchmanner that the rotarv latch nearest the open front of the circuitbreaker cell is rotated in a counterclockwise direction and theother'latch is rotated in a clockwise direction. The foremost disposedrotarv latch 4-2 is provided with an operatinirv handle 46 of U-shapewhich serves to s multaneouslv rotate the rotary latches on both sidewalls of the cell.

After the rollers 37 have been moved into the slots 43 in the rotarylatches 42, the operating handle 4-6 ismoved downwardly to the position:shown in Fig. 1 causing the notches 4:3 to be'moved toa horizontalposition in such manner that the rollers are confined in the notches andany vertical or lateral displacement of the circuit breaker unitprevented. The circuit breaker is, at

this time, entirely supported by the rotary latches and the carrier 29of the truck may be lowered away from the circuit breaker and withdrawnfrom the cell.

In order to prevent releasing movement of the rotary latches 42 exceptwhen the truck in position to support the circuit breaker unit, I haveprovided a pair of interlocking bars l7 that are mounted in thespaccbet'ween the falsewalls 8 and the side walls 5 and which pro 'dedwith pins 48 and 4%.) that are respectively engaged by a lug 51 on theconnect DQ rods and the extensions 33 on the carri 1' frame It rill beseen by reference to Fig. 2 that no movement of the rotary latches 42can be accomplished until the pin 418 has been raised out of the path ofthe lug 51. When the carrier frame has been moved to its extreme upperposition wherein the circuit breaker moved to the operative position.the extensions '33 engage the pins 4:9 the bars l? and move the pins 48clear of the lugs 51. The latches 42 may then be rotated to cause thecircuit breal-zer to be located in its ope ative position and supportedentirely upon the latches. llhen the truck nas been removed. the-bar4's? returns to its lowermost position and causes the pins 1-8 to bedisposed again in the path of the lug 51 and prevent releasing movementof the rotary latches. By reason of this interlock, the circuit breakercannot be released until the truck has again been placed be eath thecircuit breaker to recei e it. at wh ch time, the interlo king bar 4.7is elevated to the releasing! position.

It is quite important that the circuit breaker sha l he in open positionwhen the circuit breaker un t moved to e ther the operative or theinoperative position. and. for this purpose, I have provided mean forcausingthe circuit breaker to be tripped to the open, posit on uponinitial disengaging movement of the circuit brea er unit from the contaets 11 or upon in tial elevating movement of the circuit breaker unittoward its ope ative position.

This apparatus comprises a lever pivotal'ly mounted upon the eeetromazrnet 18 and which serves to trip the circu t breaker coutrollingmechanism to release the circuit breaker contacts to open position whenthe lever is rotated in a clockwise direction about the pivot shaft Thelever 52 is rotated clockwise upon initial disengaging move ment of thecircuit breaker unit by means of a. cam shoe 55- carried on the sidewalls 4 of the cell structure the ends of the shoe 55 being bentinwardly to present an inclined surface to a pin 5i carriedv on the freeend of the lever 52.

Referring to Fig. 1', it will be seen that the pin 54 is in engagementwith the c ne."

l'l' end of the cam shoe 55 and will cause the llf) circuit breaker tobe tripped open upon inupward movement of the circuit breaker unit willcause clockwise rotation of the lever 52 and trip thecircuit breaker toopen position.

It is, therefore, impossible to connect the circuit breaker unitwith thecontacts 11 or to disconnect the unit therefrom without first causingthe circuit breaker to be opened when contact is actually made or beforecontact is actually broken between the contacts 11 I and the disconnectcontacts 13.

o It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provided asimple andpositive means for supporting a'circuit breaker unit within a cellstructure in such manner that false operations cannot be accomplishedand that the construction is rugged and effective in operation. i 1

ll hile I have illustrated but one embodiment of my invention, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes,modifications, substitutions, additions and omissions may be made in theap paratus illustrated without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention, as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention: a

1. Circuit breaker apparatus comprising a support having a rotary latchprovided with a slot, a circuit breaker having a projection for enteringthe slot and means for turning the latch to prevent the projection fromdisengaging from the latch.

2. Circuit breaker apparatus comprising a support having a pair ofrotary latches provided with a slot, a circuit breaker having a 7 pairof projections for entering the slot and meansfor simultaneously turningthe latches to preventtheprojections from disengaging from the latches.7

3. Circuit breaker apparatus comprising a support having a rotary latchprovided with a slot, a circuit breaker having a projection for enteringthe slot, means for turning the latch to prevent the projection fromdisengaging from the latch and movable means for preventing releasingmovement of the latch.

ber, 1928.

having disconnect contacts and movable into and out of'the cell in ahorizontal plane and movable vertically within the cell, contacts withinthe cell adapted to be engagedby the disconnect contacts when thecircuit breaker is moved vertically to operative po sition, a: pair ofrollers on each side of the circuit breaker, horizontal guides on theside walls and for the rollers upon which the circuit breaker is movedinto the cell, apair of vertical guides on each side wall for receivingthe rollers and guidingthe vertical movement of the circuit breaker,rotary latches aligned with the vertical guides and mounted on the sidewalls and having slots therein for receiving the rollers and means forturning the latches to prevent the rollers from becoming disengagedtherefrom and thereby causing the latches to support the circuitbreaker.

6. Circuit breaker apparatus comprising a cell having side walls, acircuit breaker having disconnect contacts and movable into andfout ofthe cell in a horizontal plane and movable vertically within the cell,contacts within the cell adapted tobe engaged by the disconnect contactswhen the circuit breaker is moved vertically to operative position, apair of rollers on each side of'the circuit breaker, horizontal guideson the side walls and for the rollers upon which the circuit breaker ismoved into the cell, a pair of vertical guides on each side wall forreceiving the rollers and guiding the vertical movement of the circuitbreaker, rotary latches aligned with the vertical guides and mounted onthe side walls and having slots therein for receiving the rollers, meansfor turning the latches to cause them to support the circuit breaker,and means for preventing releasing movement of the latches except whenthe circuit'breaker is supported independently of the latches.

,In' testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 19th dayof Novem- HAROLD n. Ruse.

4.'Circuit breaker apparatus comprising a support having a rotary latchprovided with a slot, a circuit breaker having a projection for enteringthe slot, means for turning the latch to prevent the projection fromdisengaging from the latch, means for raising and lowering the circuitbreaker and means actuated by the last said means for preventing releasng movement of the latch. ,7

